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147
Report of the Medical Officer of Health.
In the first column are 73 patients who were classed as shown
in last year's report and have not attended this year.
It will be seen that 469 of the 726 cases are under treatment,
while in 1913 there were 270, so that there is an increase of 199.
300 were under treatment at one of the dispensaries, compared
with 203 last year, and 169 under treatment elsewhere, compared
with 67 last year.
It is gratifying that the number under treatment elsewhere has
increased much more than the number under dispensary treatment,
as it shows that treatment in institutions and by the patients own
medical practitioners have been employed to a greater extent, and
there are many cases which from the first require these forms of
treatment more than dispensary treatment.
In estimating the permanent effect of treatment in a disease
of so long a duration as Tuberculosis, it is necessary to keep patients
under observation for a year or two after apparent cure or improvement
in symptoms.
At present the dispensaries have not been open sufficiently
long for an accurate estimate. I have, however, made an attempt
to summarise the results to date in some of the cases, and for this
purpose have chosen the 300 cases who were under treatment at
the dispensaries at the end of 1914.
The duration of treatment varies from 21 months to a few
weeks, according to the date of the first attendance of the patient.
Of the 300 cases, 127 have shown definite signs of improvement,
127 have remained in a stationary condition, and in 46 the disease
has advanced.